Analysis

In English-speaking Cameroon, pro-independence armed groups change their strategy

Having suffered military setbacks, weakened and divided, the "Ambaboys" have switched to new modes of action made of rackets and kidnappings with ransom demands. By thus registering their activities in the register of "pure terrorism", according to specialists, they gradually lose their legitimacy among the populations.

Women walk by the edge of an abandoned market in Buea, in the predominantly English-speaking South-West province, on October 3, 2018, next to the wreckage of a car allegedly burned by separatist fighters in a recent attack. AFP - MARCO LONGARI

Text by: Valentin Zinga Follow

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Are we witnessing a long-term reconfiguration of the modes of action of separatist armed groups in the English-speaking North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon? A recent event has put this question on the table.

On May 19, 2023, in the locality of Kedjom Keku, not far from Bamenda, the capital of the North-West region, thirty women organize, according to official sources, a peaceful march, to protest against the acts of pro-independence armed groups, which impose on the population the payment of "taxes" for their benefit.

The next day, the demonstrators were abducted by elements of the groups, before being released four days later. According to local authorities, the thirty women were tortured during their detention. This information is not unanimous. According to an astute analyst of security issues in the area, interviewed by RFI, "the women were not abused because certainly, there was an exchange. This is what these groups, or more precisely these gangsters who use war as an economy now, after the [armed] groups have been destructured and dismantled by conventional forces.

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Theyhave been considerably weakened by internal conflicts between various factions. They hardly operate in urban centres, where they nevertheless retain members, and have retreated to rural areas. This is where they harass people, carry out kidnappings, and extort money," said Yerima Kini Nsom, editor-in-chief of The Post, a respected English-language biweekly, which has been closely following the crisis in the Anglophone zone since its current phase began in late 2016.

« A shift towards pure terrorism »

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For some time, there has been a form of shift into pure terrorism, with the multiplication of bomb attacks, as we saw in Buea, in the Southwest, on the occasion of the competition for the ascent of Mount Cameroon last February. There is also a tendency to use explosive devices indiscriminately, in an attempt to scare and hurt. We observe the multiplication of acts of robbery, racketeering of populations, kidnappings accompanied by ransom demands, attacks against microfinance institutions or individuals to be blamed on groups more or less affiliated with the independence tendency. This reflects at least one thing: the relative decrease in lethality of other modes of action. ", reveals historian and prospectivist Raoul Sumo Tayo, at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Louvain, and researcher at the Center for Studies and Research in Peace, Security and Integration of the University of Maroua (Cameroon). According to this academic, "the recent kidnapping of the thirty women reflects a growing weight of these groups who position themselves as surrogate authorities, and who challenge both the fiscal monopoly of the state, and its monopoly on the use of legitimate violence".

According to experts, pro-independence groups have suffered major setbacks at the hands of "conventional forces". Hence their gradual weakening on the ground and their orientation towards a criminal economy. Several reasons are put forward to explain this loss of momentum of the "Ambaboys", another name for the armed groups engaged in the battle for the creation of a republic - fictitious - called "Ambazonia".

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On the one hand, explains a well-informed source, there have been efforts on the part of some very influential countries, which have decided to cut the supply chains hitherto established in these countries, which has dealt a heavy blow to the Ambaboys. On the other hand, the performance of the defence forces can be attributed to the appointment, at the head of the command of the crisis regions, of a connoisseur of asymmetric combat. As a result, the actions of armed groups are less and less noticeable at the level of large cities, which still presupposes that there is control of the terrain.

Legitimacy in question

As weakened as they were, the "Ambaboys" were not annihilated. This is evidenced by a certain type of action that they continue to carry out according to specific modus operandi. "It is clear that these groups, or those who claim to be, carry out attacks against gendarmerie or police stations or on public roads, ambush the defense forces and the authorities, attack their convoys. The peculiarity of these actions lies in the use of improvised mines and improvised explosive devices. We cannot forget the persistence of the "dead cities" imposed in certain localities," explains Raoul Sumo Tayo.

How far will the "Ambaboys" go in their new logic of action? Experts fear that by dint of rackets and kidnappings coupled with ransom demands, separatist armed groups will lose legitimacy and gradually cut themselves off from populations who seem tired of this war, and who could demonstrate it loudly if the Cameroonian army capitalizes on this balance of power between it and the insurgents.

"This is where we should consider all the political possibilities, either strengthen the decisions that have been taken so far, or make them evolve because the lasting solution to this crisis is political," says the security expert.

From September 30 to October 4, 2019, at the convocation of President Paul Biya, a "great national dialogue", bringing together political figures of the country, experts in various fields and the authorities, was held in Yaoundé, with the proclaimed aim of "finding solutions to the Anglophone crisis". Marker, among others, of a political will to follow up on this great political mass: the promulgation, on December 24 of the same year, of a General Code of decentralized territorial collectivities, considered as an instrument for strengthening decentralization. Since then, the implementation of this text, through the creation of institutions specific to the North-West and South-West regions, does not seem to stem the crisis triggered four years earlier.

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